what's the MOST BALANCED spring/strut setup?

[poison]

My 02 has 83k on the original struts. The sway bar tab broke off the right rear, and it'll be $50+ to have some dude *try* to weld it. My struts aren't exactly shot, but they aren't 100% either. So I'm considering just replacing the struta totally, and if I'm doing it...well, we know that means upgrade time!

I'm not interested in looks. I'm not interested in lowering. I couldn't care less. I don't want super stiff. But most importantly, I want it to be perfectly damped. Not over damped, or bouncy underdamped. I want perfect. The stock setup is damn good. It's perfectly damped. It's just a bit soft.

My initial instinct is the tokico spring/strut kit. But is it well-damped? Do the spring rates match the dampers? How much stiffer than stock are they? I'm pretty sure the lowering is moderate, so that should be fine.

Any better suggestions? Cost is a factor, as well, so no coilover madness.

 

[Maxx Mazda]

I've run lots of different spring and strut combos, and I decided on the Tokico blues and iON srings. The iON springs are AMAZING. Why? Because they were designed to function not just lower the car. The fronts are linear, and the rear progressive. With the Tokico struts, and Progress sway bars, I can out handle a go-kart if I wanted.

iON made 2 kinds of springs. The race springs are very stiff, while the sport springs which I run are softer, but much firmer than stock. Many will agree that the iONs are probably the best springs made for the BJ chassis, unfortunately, they were discontinued a long time ago after a limited production run, and as such are very difficult to come by. I think there were only 20 sets of the sports and 10 of the race ever made.

 

[poison]

Clearly you are offering to sell me yours. Paypal?

 

[KrayzieFox]

I loved the Tein H-Techs when I had them on my P5. I had them on Tokico Illuminas along with the MSP rear swaybar and stock P5 front swaybar & strutbar. Car handled great, much better than my MP3 does with stock MP3 (Tokico/Racing Beat) suspension.

 

[ucMP3]

I loved the Tein H-Techs when I had them on my P5. I had them on Tokico Illuminas along with the MSP rear swaybar and stock P5 front swaybar & strutbar. Car handled great, much better than my MP3 does with stock MP3 (Tokico/Racing Beat) suspension.

^What he said. Illuminas are very nice. I also have RS-R springs which I like a lot, but I think I have the only set for a Protege in the states... But if you can find a set, I highly recommend them. Have fun with the modding. I love suspension mods.

 

[poison]

Illuminas are out of my range. I had dspecs on my impreza, and wasn't that excited about tweaking my suspension. I want a spring/strut that is perfectly mated, and I won't be monkeying around with it once it's on the car.

 

[ucMP3]

Illuminas are out of my range. I had dspecs on my impreza, and wasn't that excited about tweaking my suspension. I want a spring/strut that is perfectly mated, and I won't be monkeying around with it once it's on the car.

Then I would just get the Tokico Blues like Maxx Mazda recommended.

 

[KrayzieFox]

Then I would just get the Tokico Blues like Maxx Mazda recommended.

+1 on the Tokico HP (blue) struts. The Illuminas were nice, but I rarely ever adjusted them. Kept the front at 3 and the rear at 4 for daily driving, which is probably pretty damn close to the HPs.

 

[poison]

Krazie, got pics with the h-techs? And how much harsher was the ride over stock? Did you have to creep over speed bumps, or could you bomb them?

 

[Maxx Mazda]

+1 on the Tokico HP (blue) struts. The Illuminas were nice, but I rarely ever adjusted them. Kept the front at 3 and the rear at 4 for daily driving, which is probably pretty damn close to the HPs.

Interesting you should mention that. The HP's are similar to setting 3 on the Illuminas.

 

[JCell]

im running S techs and illuminas....

i love this setup, i have autox'd a lot with it and its very easy to be consistent.

 

[Magus]

I believe the best combo is Tokico HP (blue) with Espelir springs. They have linear springs in the front and progresssive springs in the rear like the ION. If you have a regular protege vs a P5, make sure you get P5 struts or they will not sit right.

 

[poison]

Why do some have the linear front and progressive rear? Why not linear all around?

 

[sethro_GT]

Just replaced my stock struts with KYB's and it is identical to stock. In fact the stock setup is excellent for the occasional autoX. The only thing I need to be competitive is more grip and springs won't give me as much as a decent set of tires. If you like the stock ride get the KYB's and keep the stock springs.

Really, without some skid pad data I'm very skeptical that any aftermarket spring is worth the price. ...Unless you want it lowered too. H&R's are very popular in the autox community and that is what I have on my 323GT, havn't driven on them though so can't comment.

 

[poison]

Thanks, sethro. Imo, the stock setup is very good for oem. I added a progress rsb, and that's effing awesome all together. I had a better than STi suspension on my N/A impreza (dspecs/prodrive red springs/massive front and rear sways/endlinks/camber plates/alignment/tires, and while the thing was an absolute monster (if slow), it was also like being punched in the gut driving on local freeways. And I have a sneaking suspicion the p5 will handle just as well with the rsb and new tires (die, current tires, die!!). The imp was a sledgehammer, the p5 a scalpel. Bah. I miss the ultimate grip of the imp, but love the immediacy, accuracy, finesse, and feedback of the p5.

I'm pretty upset about my rear sway being unhooked, lol. It's nowhere near as fun. I gotta get it fixed, otherwise i'd be eyeballing new tires right now.

So, did you do kyb gr2's? Is the swaybar tab beefier than eom?

 

[EVADE]

just get BC coilovers so you have more set ups to go with just in case you get change your mind down the road. I know because i didnt wait but it didnt help they only came out awhile ago=)

 

[KrayzieFox]

I would suggest you stay away from KYB's. Unless you're going with coilovers, Tokico is the way to go.. and since you said Illuminas are out of your price range then coilovers will be too (and they'll be pretty harsh for daily driving).

Attached is a pic of my P5 in its prime on Illuminas and H-Techs. Drop was subtle but plenty, as the stock wheel gap is terrible in my opinion. As for drive ability, it was a very street friendly setup. About the same as the stock MP3/MSP suspension feeling, but more responsive. You couldn't quite hammer through speed bumps, but you wouldn't feel every little bump in the road either. I liked it a lot.

The only other spring I've heard numerous positive reviews about are the H&Rs.

 

[sethro_GT]

I would suggest you stay away from KYB's. Unless you're going with coilovers, Tokico is the way to go.. and since you H&Rs.

Could you expand on this? I have installed KYB's on 3 of my mazda's and they handle/ride great. I put tokico blues on my MX6GT and they were not worth the premium price over KYB's. That car did have eibach springs though.

As for the tab's being larger, I'm not sure. I do have the old struts around so I can compare. Too bad its the right rear, thats the one I bent when I curbed it. The other three still had some rebound at 111k and were posted in the FS, just pay shipping. Sounds like the impreza was awesome and the suspension was fully tuned. You're right the P5 has excellent road handling and feel thats one reason I don't want to F with it; unless of coarse racing is on the agenda then you obviously know the right way to set up for that.

 

[Knox Joe]

I believe the best combo is Tokico HP (blue) with Espelir springs.

(iagree)

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Imuna have to vote for Illuminas / Espelirs...since that's what I'm rollin on. If OP were only local, I have oems with about 30k on them. Somebody in LA area has got to have the oems laying around.........